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Ian Paul

Adobe announced last Thursday that it was partnering with Yahoo! to bring ads to PDF (Portable Document Format). Through an opt-in service, publishers of PDF files can now have relevant text ads appear alongside their instruction manuals, stock ... reports, and press releases. After registering online with Adobe, businesses upload their documents for keyword analysis which matches advertisements with the file. "By partnering with Yahoo! on this innovative advertising service we are creating opportunities for publishers to build new businesses around unique content that previously was just given ... (view more)

Have you been charged with libel for what you've posted on your blog? If you have, don't expect Google to protect your identity. On Wednesday, the search giant agreed to hand over the Internet Protocol (IP) address of a Blogger user accused of ... posting defamatory comments against three members of the Israeli Shaarei Tikva council currently bidding for re-election. (Source: techcrunch.com ) Shaarei Tikva, which means 'Gates of Hope' in Hebrew, is an Israeli settlement located in the West Bank. The anonymous blogger accused the council members of receiving bribes, committing tax fraud, and ... (view more)

In a strange reversal from two summers ago, last week young Syrians sought 'refuge' in neighboring Lebanon. The alleged reason for this exodus? Facebook. In a move to further restrict free speech and political activism in the country Bashar Assad's ... government shut down access to the fast-growing social network. (Source: globeandmail.com ) Advocate Dania al-sharif told Reuters last week that, "Facebook helped further civil society in Syria and form civic groups outside government control. This is why it has been banned." (Source: reuters.com ) Officials were apparently concerned that Israel ... (view more)

Last Friday, the Mubadala Development Company announced that it was purchasing an 8% ownership of chip maker Advanced Micro Devices for $622 million. Mubdala is a corporation of the government of Abu Dhabi, and serves as a vehicle for the capital of ... the United Arab Emirates to invest directly in publicly traded companies. (Source: nytimes.com ) This is the second deal that Mubdala has brokered; it recently purchased 7.5% interest in the Carlyle Group. Both the Carlyle and AMD moves are part of Abu Dhabi's plan to diversify its oil revenue with technology investments. (Source: cnetnews.com ) ... (view more)

You thought you were safe didn't you? Being ever so careful not to enter a site you couldn't trust, scanning every email before you opened it. It was all so perfect...until that banner ad. Late last week it was reported that hackers had found a ... remarkably sophisticated way to break into the average computer. Several trusted websites found malicious software hidden within banner ads on their web pages. Companies affected included The Economist.com, Canada.com, and MLB.com. (Source: cbc.ca ) The amazing part about the scam was that you only had to visit the site and see the infected page for ... (view more)

Congress has been occupied with several matters concerning the Internet recently. The legislative body recently gave the 'go ahead' to measures that should make broadband service more accessible in the future. On Tuesday of last week, the House of ... Representatives approved H.R. 3919 which requires the government to survey the current availability of broadband access by counting the number of household and corporate subscribers. Based on that data the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) will then develop a map displaying accessibility distribution throughout the ... (view more)

Marvel Publishing unveiled Digital Comics Unlimited on Tuesday, a subscriber-based program intended to put its vast collection of superhero stories online. The company dipped its toe into the digital waters by releasing 2,500 past issues featuring ... some of its most famous characters, including Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Captain America, and the Hulk. As an incentive, Marvel is currently offering 250 free samples on its website, with subscriptions to the entire catalog available for $9.99 a month, or $59.88 a year. (Source: nytimes.com ) The digitization is meant to attract a target ... (view more)

Last week, Maxtor external hard drives in Taiwan were discovered to be preloaded with Trojan horse malware. Approximately 1800 units were contaminated, but only 300 were believed to be sold. Based in two files, autorun.inf and ghost.pif, the program ... was designed to automatically upload any saved data to two web sites based in China: www.nice8.org and www.we168.org . (Source: taipeitimes.com ) When the Taipei Times broke the story on Sunday, investigators made claims of a Chinese plot to spy on its tiny island neighbor. Since China has been known to run Internet- and technology-based spying in ... (view more)

On Friday, Microsoft announced a new program to help put more second-hand computers pre-loaded with Windows in the hands of consumers. Building on the success of its 'Community Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher' program, which helps deliver used PCs ... with authorized copies of Windows to charities, educational institutions, and nonprofits, the software giant announced a similar program for commercial businesses that resell computers. Prior to this announcement most PCs that entered the 'used' market were shipped without an operating system, because Microsoft required the units to have both their ... (view more)

The movie download site CinemaNow.com is partnering with Sonic, makers of the Roxio CD and DVD burning software, to allow consumers to legally burn movies bought online for playback in DVD and HD-DVD players. Curt Mavis, president and CEO of ... CinemaNow, said that his company is, "pleased to unlock a vast collection of previously unavailable content for consumers to instantly access in the home and burn to DVD." (Source: I4U News ) The deal would seem to solve the problem of transferring downloaded content from computer to television. Several products are already on the market to accomplish ... (view more)